Thursday, October 23, 2014

Turks, Kurds, Americans: the Kobani riddle

Smoke and dust rise over Syrian town of Kobani after an airstrike, as
seen from the Mursitpinar crossing on the Turkish-Syrian border in the
southeastern town of Suruc in Sanliurfa province October 22, 2014.
(Reuters/Kai Pfaffenbach)

Pay close attention to the women of Kobani, where Syrian Kurds are
desperately fighting ISIS/ISIL/Daesh. They are also fighting the
treacherous agendas of the US, Turkey, and the government of Iraqi
Kurdistan. Who will prevail?

Let’s start by talking about Rojava. The full meaning of Rojava -
the three mostly Kurdish provinces of northern Syria - is
conveyed in this editorial (in Turkish) published by
jailed activist Kenan Kirkaya. He argues that Rojava is the home
of a “revolutionary model” that challenges “the
hegemony of the capitalist, nation-state system” – way
beyond its regional “meaning for Kurds, or for Syrians or
Kurdistan.”

Kobani – an agricultural region - happens to be at the epicenter
of this non-violent experiment in democracy, made possible by an
arrangement between Damascus and Rojava (you don’t go for regime
change against us, we leave you alone). Here, for
instance, it’s argued that “even if only a single aspect of
true socialism were able to survive there, millions of
discontented people would be drawn to Kobani.”

In Rojava, decision making is via popular assemblies -
multicultural and multi-religious. The top three officers in each
municipality are a Kurd, an Arab and an Assyrian or Armenian
Christian; and at least one of these three must be a woman.
Non-Kurd minorities have their own institutions and speak their
own languages.
Among a myriad of women’s and youth councils, there is also an
increasingly famous feminist army, the YJA Star militia
(“Union of Free Women”, with the “star”
symbolizing Mesopotamian goddess Ishtar).

Turkish Kurdish women mourn during the funeral of Kurdish fighters
killed during clashes against Islamic State in Kobani, at a cemetery in
the southeastern town of Suruc, Sanliurfa province October 21, 2014.
(Reuters/Kai Pfaffenbach)

The symbolism could not be more graphic; think of the forces of
Ishtar (Mesopotamia) fighting the forces of ISIS (originally an
Egyptian goddess), now transmogrified into an intolerant
Caliphate. In the young 21st century, it’s the female barricades
of Kobani that are at the forefront of fighting fascism.
Inevitably there should be quite a few points of intersection
between the International Brigades fighting fascism in Spain in
1936 and what is happening in Rojava, as stressed by one of the
very few articles about it published in the
mainstream Western media.

If these components were not enough to drive crazy deeply
intolerant Wahhabis (and their powerful Gulf petrodollar backers)
then there’s the overall political set up.

The fight in Rojava is essentially led by the PYD, which is the
Syrian branch of the Turkish PKK, the Marxist guerrillas at war
against Ankara since the 1970s. Washington, Brussels and NATO –
under relentless Turkish pressure – have always officially ranked
both PYD and PKK as “terrorists.”

Careful examination of PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan’s must-read bookDemocratic Confederalism
reveals this terrorist/Stalinist equation as bogus (Ocalan has
been confined to the island prison of Imrali since 1999.)

What the PKK – and the PYD - are striving for is “libertarian
municipalism.” In fact that’s exactly what Rojava has been
attempting; self-governing communities applying direct democracy,
using as pillars councils, popular assemblies, cooperatives
managed by workers – and defended by popular militias. Thus the
positioning of Rojava in the vanguard of a worldwide cooperative
economics/democracy movement whose ultimate target would be to
bypass the concept of a nation-state.

Not only is this experiment taking place politically across
northern Syria; in military terms, it was the PKK and the PYD who
actually managed to rescue those tens of thousands of Yazidis
corralled by ISIS/ISIL/Daesh in Mount Sinjar, and not American
bombs, as the spin went. And now, as PYD Co-President Asya
Abdullah details, what’s needed is a
“corridor” to break the encirclement of Kobani by Caliph
Ibrahim’s goons.

Sultan Erdogan’s power play

Ankara, meanwhile, seems intent in prolonging a policy of
“lots of problems with our neighbors.”

For Turkish Defense Minister Ismet Yilmaz, “the main cause of
ISIS is the Syrian regime.” And Prime Minister Ahmet
Davutoglu – who invented the now defunct “zero problems with
our neighbors” doctrine in the first place – has repeatedly
stressed Ankara will only intervene with boots on the ground in
Kobani to defend the Kurds if Washington presents a
“post-Assad plan.”

And then there’s a larger than life character; Turkish President
Tayyip Erdogan, a.k.a. Sultan Erdogan.
Sultan Erdogan’s conditions are well known. Syrian Kurds should
fight against Damascus under the command of that lousy fiction,
the reconstituted (and to be trained, of all places, in Saudi
Arabia) Free Syrian Army; they should forget about any sort of
autonomy; they should meekly accept Turkey’s request for
Washington to create a no-fly zone over Syria and also a
“secured” border on Syrian territory. No wonder both the
PYD and Washington have rejected these demands.

Turkey's President Tayyip Erdogan.
(Reuters/Umit Bektas)

Sultan Erdogan dreams of rebooting the peace process with the PKK
- and he wants to lead it in a position of force. So far his only
concession has been to allow Iraqi Kurd Peshmerga to enter
northern Syria to counter-balance the PYD-PKK militias, and thus
prevent the strengthening of an anti-Turkish Kurdish axis.

At the same time Sultan Erdogan knows ISIS/ISIL/Daesh has already
recruited up to 1,000 Turkish passport holders. His supplemental
nightmare is that the toxic brew in “Syraq” will sooner
rather than later mightily overspill Turkish borders.

Barbarians at the gates

Caliph Ibrahim’s goons have already telegraphed their intention
to massacre and/or enslave the entire civilian population of
Kobani. And yet Kobani, per se, has no strategic value for
ISIS/ISIL/Daesh (that’s what US Secretary of State John Kerry
himself said last week; but then, predictably, he reversed
himself). This very persuasive PYD commander though is
very much aware of the ISIS/ISIL/Daesh threat.

Kobani is not essential compared to Deir ez-Zor (which has an
airport supplying the Syrian Arab Army) or Hasakah (which has oil
fields controlled by Kurds helped by the Syrian Arab Army).
Kobani boasts no airport and no oil fields.

On the other hand, the fall of Kobani would generate immensely
positive P.R. for the Caliph’s goons – widening the perception of
a winning army especially among new, potential, EU passport
holder recruits, as well as establishing a solid base very close
to the Turkish border.

Essentially, what Sultan Erdogan is doing is to fight both
Damascus (long-term) and the Kurds (medium- term) while actually
giving a free pass (short-term) to ISIS/ISIL/Daesh. And yet,
further on down the road, Fehim Tastekin is right; training
non-existent“moderate” Syrian
rebels in Saudi Arabia will only lead to the
“Pakistanization” of Turkey.

As if this was not muddled enough, in a game changer - and
reversing its “terrorist” dogma - Washington is now
talking to the PYD. And that poses an extra headache for Sultan
Erdogan.

This give-and-take between Washington and the PYD is still up for
grabs. Yet some facts on the ground spell it all out; more US
bombing, more US air drops. A key fact though should not be
overlooked. As soon as the PYD was more or less
“recognized” by Washington, PYD head Saleh Muslim went
to meet the wily Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) leader
Masoud Barzani. That’s when the PYD promised a “power
sharing” with Barzani’s Peshmergas on running Rojava.

AFP Photo/Al-Furqan Media

Syrian Kurds who were forced to abandon Kobani and exile
themselves in Turkey, and who support the PYD, cannot return to
Syria; but Iraqi Kurds can go back and forth. This dodgy deal was
brokered by the KRG’s intelligence chief, Lahur Talabani. The
KRG, crucially, gets along very well with Ankara.

That sheds further light on Erdogan’s game; he wants the
Peshmerga – who are fierce enemies of the PKK – to become the
vanguard against ISIS/ISIL/Daesh and thus undermine the PYD/PKK
alliance. Once again, Turkey is pitting Kurds against Kurds.

Washington for its part is manipulating Kobani to completely
legitimize its crusade against ISIS/ISIL/Daesh (we should always
remember how the whole thing started with a barrage of spin about
the bogus, ghostly Khorasan group preparing a new 9/11).

What that means, in the long run, is a serious threat to the
direct democracy experiment in Rojava – which Washington cannot
but interpret as a return of communism.

Kobani is now a huge pawn in a game manipulated by Washington,
Ankara and Irbil. None of these actors want the direct democracy
experiment in Kobani and Rojava to bloom, expand and start to be
noticed all across the Global South. The women of Kobani are in
mortal danger of being, if not enslaved, bitterly betrayed.

And it gets even more ominous when the ISIS/ISIL/Daesh play on
Kobani is seen essentially for what it is; a diversionary tactic,
a trap for the Obama administration. What the Caliph’s goons are
really aiming at is Anbar Province in Iraq – which they already
largely control - and the crucial Baghdad belt. The barbarians
are at the gates – not only Kobani’s but also Baghdad’s.

Quotes

"There is beauty in truth, even if it's painful. Those who lie, twist life so that it looks tasty to the lazy, brilliant to the ignorant, and powerful to the weak. But lies only strengthen our defects. They don't teach us anything, help anything, fix anything or cure anything. Nor do they develop one's character, one's mind, one's heart or one's soul." Jose Harris

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